Chen Shouyi suddenly woke up, his face filled with terror.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Though he felt a splitting headache, his muddled thoughts were now completely clear.

He looked around and was startled to find himself unwittingly in the Gray Mist Space; when he saw the World Tree, he was even more frightened.

Between the branches and forks of the World Tree, a dark aura permeated, giving a sense of ominousness and evil.

After only a few more glances, his mind began to flood with distractions, as if countless venomous voices whispered curses and maledictions by his ears.

Chen Shouyi avoided his gaze, no longer daring to look, feeling uneasy inside.

"Seems like it wasn't just a simple nightmare earlier; what exactly is happening?"

He remembered that after fighting the Barbarian God, he had collapsed to the ground, watching the crowd cheer loudly, even being passionately embraced by Song Jieying. Then, his memory had a gap, only returning to consciousness in the bizarre, absurd nightmare.

Recalling the terrifying scenes and the experience of gradually slipping into death, he still felt a lingering fear and a chill in his heart.

The nightmare was so real that it remains vivid even now; if not for the Book of Knowledge pulling him here, freeing him from the nightmare, he suspected he might have truly died.

He once read online about a famous wrist-slashing experiment.

The experiment supposedly took place in South India in 1936; the subject was a death row inmate who had to choose between dying from excessive blood loss or hanging. The inmate chose the former, was blindfolded, and tied to a bed during the process.

His wrist skin was cut open—just superficial wounds not severing the arteries—while scientists made him believe the sound of dripping water beside him was his blood. The result? After some time, the inmate indeed died.

The brain is the central hub of a living organism; when your psychological cues convince you everything is real, that you are gradually dying, you may eventually die.

"Undoubtedly, this curse-like nightmare was absolutely caused by that deceased Barbarian God! Only such an existence would possess such mysterious means."

"Moreover, before dying, it seemed to identify itself as the king and even said something threatening!"

Thinking of this, Chen Shouyi silently cursed inwardly.

What a disaster out of nowhere!

What made it think it was the king? Because he was the strongest among everyone?

Sure enough, a foolish creature from an alternate reality.

...

Then he noticed the black mist shrouding the World Tree, becoming lighter, as if being slowly absorbed by the World Tree.

He let out a breath of relief; his greatest fear was the inability to purge this ominous aura. Now it seemed the World Tree was more powerful than imagined, truly worthy of being the legendary Divine Tree supporting the alternate world.

On reflection, trees naturally purify the air, so to the World Tree, the black mist might just be akin to smog.

Chen Shouyi simply sat on the ground, patiently waiting.

Though slightly worried about his physical state, to avoid encountering the nightmare again, he could only patiently wait here until the black mist was fully absorbed. Fortunately, before his memory broke, people surrounded him everywhere, so there was no worry about lacking bodily care.

...

Chen Shouyi waited for a full half hour; the last trace of dark aura was completely absorbed by the World Tree.

Differing from previous absorption of divinity, the World Tree didn't grow taller after absorbing the black mist. However, Chen Shouyi noticed the emerald Memory Leaves became more lustrous, adding a hint of material texture to the previously ethereal sensation.

...

Perhaps focusing too intently, the space shifted, and once clear again, Chen Shouyi found himself sitting on the floor of the living room at his old house in Dongning, opposite a sister who appeared five or six years old.

Her hair was braided in pigtails, wearing a pink little dress, her chubby round face appeared carved and polished.

Between them piled a mountain of blocks.

Clearly, this was his childhood memory.

He was building a Transformer, while his sister was building a castle.

As they played, they quarreled over an architectural block.

"I got this first!" His sister's tender voice shouted angrily, her chubby face puffed with baby fat.

Little Shouyi sniffled and huffed, "But I saw it long ago, give it to me!"

"No!"

The two began arguing, with the older Shouyi clearly stronger than Chen Xingyue; he eventually snatched the block from his sister, claiming victory.

Xiao Xingyue pursed her lips, aggrievedly crying out, "Bad brother, I… I'll tell Mom and have her spank you!"

Speaking so, she indignantly stood up, wiping tears and running toward the stairs.

Inhabiting his childhood self, Chen Shouyi reminisced about what happened next: he first beat his sister, of course resulting in a predictable outcome where he was spanked soundly by Mrs. Chen.

He didn't want to watch his childhood self bullying his sister's antics, intending to withdraw.

Just then, a strand of information suddenly emerged in his mind, and after digesting it, he was filled with disbelief.

Since absorbing the Barbarian God's curse, the Memory Space had undergone a transformation; by expending certain energy, he could actually control his body.

"Why not give it a try!" Chen Shouyi's heart stirred.

With that thought, a peculiar sensation immediately arose from his heart.

Little Shouyi's consciousness completely vanished, the governing force of the body becoming his volition.

He tentatively moved his small hands; the muscles were raw and sluggish, weaker than a feeble chicken with less than five combat power. Noticing Xiao Xingyue nearing the stairs, Chen Shouyi hurriedly stood up and gestured, calling, "Xing Yue, come here, come here."

"Bad brother, why are you calling me? You want to apologize, don't you?" Xiao Xingyue halted upon hearing this, her small legs skipping over. Although her face was tear-streaked, she carried herself proudly like a hen having laid an egg, raising her chin triumphantly.

Witnessing this scene, Chen Shouyi found it unbelievable—this scene wasn't in his memory, was it the Book of Knowledge's simulation effect?

So realistic, so natural, neither the dialogue nor event evolution showed the slightest stiffness.

"If you don't want me to tell Mom, you must let me ride like a pony!"

Sure enough, she was annoying from a young age.

Recalling the earlier nightmare where Chen Xingyue had turned dark, Chen Shouyi couldn't help but feel indignant.

Gazing at Xiao Xingyue so close, he couldn't resist stretching both hands and pinching her chubby cheeks hard.

"Wah!" a louder cry than before echoed through the living room.

"Mom! Mom! Brother… he pinched me!"

Seeing this, Chen Shouyi quickly made his escape from the Memory Space; as for whether his younger self would be punished, he didn't care—after all, even if he did nothing, he couldn't escape being spanked in memory.

As the thought crossed his mind, his expression turned slightly serious, briskly walking to the World Tree to inspect the Memory Leaves he entered earlier.

Memory images flowed across the leaf like a fast-forwarding film.

Soon, it reached the earlier scene.

Chen Shouyi watched for a moment, then let out a sigh of relief.

"Indeed, memory is unchangeable, unaffected by my disturbance—the earlier episode was clearly the Book of Knowledge's simulation effect!"

Then he felt a subtle thrill; if so, wouldn't he be able to do practically anything within the Memory Space from now on?

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